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KANSAS CITY—The first month of the season behind them, the Blue Jays are still searching for a winning combination, mixing and matching all over the diamond in the hopes of stemming their recent skid.

Ryan Goins, Moises Sierra and Jonathan Diaz have all been dispatched, while Chris Getz, Anthony Gose and Steve Tolleson are getting their chance to make an impression. Meanwhile, on Thursday, manager John Gibbons announced that J.A. Happ will start Monday’s game in Philadelphia as the club dabbles with a six-man rotation amid a 20-game stretch without an off-day. “We’ll see where it takes us,” he said.

On Thursday, at least, the mix worked as the Jays defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-3, on the back of another solid outing by Mark Buehrle and homers by Juan Francisco and Colby Rasmus, to stave off a sweep.

“We got just what we needed out of Buehrle tonight,” Gibbons said of the veteran left-hander’s 6 2/3 innings, in which he allowed just two earned runs. Buehrle earned his fifth win — tied for most in the majors — while lowering his ERA to 2.25.

Gose, marking his sixth big-league call-up, went 2-for-4, driving in a pair of runs with a double in the eighth inning and looking very good in left field — particularly in the third when he cut down Eric Hosmer at the plate when the Royals were leading by one. “That was a big play,” Gibbons said.

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Getz, meanwhile, continued to impress against his former club, going 2-for-4 with a pair of stolen bases and a couple of strong defensive plays. With Maicer Izturis likely lost for the season, the 30-year-old figures to be the team’s everyday second baseman for the foreseeable future, or at least until Goins shows he can hit at Triple-A Buffalo.

Gose got the start in left field on Thursday while Melky Cabrera — who leads the majors in hits — sat with a bruised left shin after getting plunked by Royals’ reliever Danny Duffy on Wednesday night. Gibbons suggested before the game Cabrera could be ready to return as early as Friday.

What happens with Gose then is still fuzzy. With Sierra gone, will he take over as the club’s fourth outfielder, or will he soon be sent back to Buffalo, where he can get everyday at-bats?

“It’s hard to say,” Gibbons said. “We’ll see how he plays.”

It sure feels like this is a pivotal moment for Gose, once a surefire prospect and considered the Jays’ centre-fielder of the future, but whose major-league trajectory has been anything but straightforward.

Long coveted by GM Alex Anthopoulos, the 23-year-old has yet to reach the lofty heights for which he has been projected, and nearly two years after he made his big-league debut at Yankee Stadium for an injured Jose Bautista, his future with the Jays is still unclear.

“I’m just here to play,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on or how it’s going to work out.”

There was never any doubt that he was more valuable than Sierra, but with options left — meaning he could be sent to the minors without having to clear waivers, unlike Sierra — he was the odd man out and forced to start his third season in Triple-A.

Gose’s biggest obstacle has always been his inability to hit consistently at the major-league level. In 109 big-league games, Gose owns a .238 average with a .298 on-base percentage, while striking out in nearly a third of his at-bats. “We know he’s good on the bases and plays some defence,” Gibbons said. “. . . But when it comes down to it, in the big leagues it’s about production.”

Meanwhile, the Jays’ rotation could see a significant shakeup over the next few days. Dustin McGowan is scheduled to start Sunday in Pittsburgh, followed by Happ in Philly, and it would seem as if those could be make-or-break outings for both men, as highly touted prospect Marcus Stroman — who threw six no-hit innings in Buffalo on Tuesday — continues to put pressure on the Jays to call him up.

It stands to reason that if McGowan and Happ struggle in their outings, Stroman could make his first career start as early as Friday, May 9 at home against the L.A. Angels. But if McGowan and/or Happ pitch well, perhaps Stroman will have to wait a while longer for his hotly anticipated debut.

The Jays have lost three straight series and seven of their last 10, and are heading into interleague half a game up on the last-place Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. But the club is hoping the good vibes from Thursday’s victory will catch on.

“We were able to get ahead and hold the lead for once,” said Aaron Loup, who came on in relief of Buehrle and earned a seven-out save. “Hopefully it’ll get us on a roll and get us started and win some more games.”

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